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The Twelfth Doctor was an incarnation of the Doctor who travelled with Clara Oswald. He emerged from the Eleventh Doctor's explosive regeneration on Trenzalore, being the product of what his predecessor called "regeneration number thirteen" as well as being the first incarnation of the Doctor's second regeneration cycle.
Contrary to his predecessors, the Twelfth Doctor did not act out in a childish manner as a defense mechanism to avoid the guilty feelings lingering from the Last Great Time War. After assuring the survival of Gallifrey, he was no longer chained down by his guilt. His personality shifted from frivolities to a serious and applied disposition.
However, with his darkening nature, the Doctor turned colder and stoic, taking on many aspects likened to those of an introvert. With his emotions subdued, he became harder to read correctly, heightening the alien qualities he had in his previous incarnation. However, this difficulty of understanding how his rationale worked could lead others to quickly distrust him. In extreme cases, the Doctor's unknown and unpredictable tendencies could generate fear, both for himself and his associates.
Biography
A chaotic beginning
After fighting in the Siege of Trenzalore for 900 years, (PROSE: Tales of Trenzalore: The Eleventh Doctor's Last Stand) the Eleventh Doctor, facing extermination by the Daleks in his old age, was ready to accept that he had reached the end of his life. Clara Oswald appealed to the Time Lords to intervene, and he was granted a new regenerative cycle. After using his regenerative energy to destroy the attacking Daleks and their mother ship, the Eleventh Doctor returned to the TARDIS to complete his regeneration.
Suddenly changing in a flash before Clara's eyes, this new Twelfth Doctor first expressed surprise at sensing his new kidneys, stating, "I don't like the colour!" The TARDIS then began shaking violently, and the Doctor realised he had forgotten how to pilot his ship. (TV: The Time of the Doctor) Crash-landing on pre-historic Earth, the TARDIS was chased and subsequently swallowed by a female Tyrannosaur; when the Doctor brought the TARDIS to 1890s London, this dinosaur was accidentally brought along with it. (TV: Deep Breath)
In London, the Doctor was reunited with the Paternoster Gang, and witnessed the apparent spontaneous combustion of the dinosaur. Though still suffering from partial amnesia and occasional delirium as after-effects of his regeneration, he learned Clockwork Droids had been harvesting humans to repair themselves. Their leader, the Half-Face Man, sought to reach the Promised Land. The Doctor confronted the Half-Face Man, and warned him that he would do whatever necessary to protect the innocent humans that the droid was targeting.
Trying to speak on peaceful terms, the Doctor snapped the droid out of his illusion of the "Promised Land" by revealing the true state of his existence. Having switched out spare parts so many times, the Half-Face Man had truly no traces left of his original self. Knowing he would not go to a promised land or be truly alive, the Half-Face Man's logic dictated him to self-terminate, but he said it was against his basic programming, struggling against the Doctor. The Doctor replied that murder was against his "programming". Both agreeing that one of them was lying, the Half-Face Man ended falling out of his escape pod, to his death.
The Doctor, having completely regained his memory and senses, briefly left Clara behind to redecorate the console room and settle on a new outfit. Attempting to return her to 25 December 2013, the Doctor ended up in Glasgow by mistake. However, they decided to go out for coffee after the Eleventh Doctor called Clara and encouraged her to help the new Doctor. (TV: Deep Breath)
Am I a good man?
Leaving Clara behind in Glasgow to get coffee, the Doctor got distracted, went off in the TARDIS on his own and ended up saving a Combined Galactic Resistance fighter pilot named Journey Blue from a Dalek Saucer attack, though left her brother Kai behind in the explosion. After prompting her into asking nicely, the Doctor returned Journey to her command ship, the Aristotle, where Journey's uncle, Colonel Morgan Blue, introduced him to a Dalek that had developed a fault and turned good.
Returning for Clara, three weeks later from her perspective, the Doctor asked her if she thought he was a good man, a question that Clara found herself unable to answer, and returned to base to help the Dalek. Joined by Journey and two other soldiers named Gretchen Carlisle and Ross, the Doctor and Clara used a Molecular nanoscaler to miniaturise themselves and enter the Dalek — whom the Doctor nicknamed "Rusty". After losing Ross to the Dalek's antibodies, the Doctor discovered a radiation leak from within the Dalek and learned that Rusty had turned good after seeing a star being born. Following the radiation, the Doctor discovered damage to Rusty's power source was slowly killing him, and repaired the damage with his Sonic screwdriver.
However, fixing Rusty's power core resulted in the malfunction that turned Rusty good to be reversed, with Rusty's destructive nature returning, and causing Rusty to go on a killing spree, as well as send a distress beacon to summon the Daleks to the rebels' base. After getting slapped and lectured by Clara for his apathy, the Doctor realized he could turn Rusty good again by reawakening his memory of the star being born.
Instructing Clara to find a way to restore Rusty's memories of the star, the Doctor made his way to the Kaled mutant within Rusty to mind link with him, causing Rusty to see the Doctor's hatred of the Daleks and destroy the Daleks that had responded to his distress beacon. Leaving to continue his crusade against the Daleks, Rusty commented that Doctor would have made a good Dalek before both of them left. After declining Journey's request to travel with him and Clara, the Doctor returned Clara home, both still unsure if the Doctor was a good man, but with Clara convinced he was at least trying to be one. (TV: Into the Dalek)
Accompanying an impossible hero
The Doctor and Clara helped Robin Hood fight robots in Sherwood Forest. (TV: Robot of Sherwood)
Further adventures
Spending some more time on his own, the Doctor became alerted to a creature that disguised itself as a motorway to consume planets into other dimensions. Summoning Clara to assist him, the Doctor was surprised when the creature disappeared, unaware that Clara had tricked the creature into consuming itself. (COMIC: Road Rage)
The Doctor and Clara later used a Goo bomb to foil the Sibro's attempt the weaponize a Conlanian clock tower. (COMIC: Chime Time)
Undated events
- The Twelfth Doctor joined his previous selves in helping place Gallifrey in a pocket universe at the end of the Last Great Time War. (TV: The Day of the Doctor),
Psychological profile
Personality
A sarcastic man armed with an acerbic wit, the Twelfth Doctor was dark and at times manipulative, willing to place his companions in danger if it meant appeasing his curiosity and leaving them out of the details in his plans. (TV: Deep Breath, COMIC: Chime Time)
Despite coming across as uncaring, he would fight to protect those in his care, and would react with devastation if harm befell them. Such was his reaction to the death of a female Tyrannosaurus rex that had been inadvertently dragged through time by the TARDIS. (TV: Deep Breath)
The Twelfth Doctor showed even less restraint than his predecessor, and would get frank and physical with his enemies. (TV: Deep Breath) However, he often skirted a jagged line between right and wrong values due to a conflicted sense of morality and the struggle with his inner darkness. He sometimes voiced preconceptions about his enemies or human nature, but might find them maligned and questioned his own judgement afterward. (TV: Deep Breath, Into the Dalek)
Though he retained a respect for humanity, the Twelfth Doctor would insult them for being slow minded and violent, dubbing Earth the "planet of the pudding-brains". (TV: Deep Breath) He expressed a strong dislike for soldiers, because of their hidebound nature. (TV: Into the Dalek) He also claimed to dislike karaoke, mime and babysitters. (TV: Deep Breath, Into the Dalek)
Though this Doctor stated that murder was against his moral code, he and the Half-Face Man agreed that one of them was lying about their basic programming. Indeed, the Doctor did show some initial reluctance in going forth with killing the Half-Face Man himself, offering him a drink of alcohol and trying to persuade the Clockwork Droid to self-destruct of his own free will. (TV: Deep Breath)
Much like his seventh and war incarnations, the Twelfth Doctor was heavily inclined to err toward a greater good and was willing to allow one inevitable death if it meant saving the majority. Through this attitude, he acted like a pragmatist that would not hesitate to abandon someone whose fate was already sealed. (TV: Into the Dalek)
Also like his previous incarnation, he relied on his companions to keep him from succumbing to his darker nature, but, unlike his predecessors, the Twelfth Doctor actively praised them for it, even claiming that Clara Oswald needed a "pay raise" for dealing with him. (TV: Into the Dalek)
He did not tolerate poor manners, even when held at gunpoint, and believed that one should make requests politely. (TV: Into the Dalek)
Following his long stalemate with the Daleks on Trenzalore, this Doctor's hatred toward the Dalek species was rigid, with Clara describing it as "prejudice." He seemed conditioned to believe Daleks could not change and was closed-minded as he dealt with their presence. After considering the right course of action to perform on a malfunctioning Dalek, he decided to fix it, reasoning that it was impossible for it to be good, despite a universe that was full of unexplored possibilities. This choice horrified those in his presence, notably Clara, who became angered to the point of slapping him. (TV: Into the Dalek)
Habits and quirks
Like his seventh incarnation, the Twelfth Doctor spoke with a Scottish accent, which he took as an entitlement to complain about things.
After working out the important questions in his head, he waited for others to come to the same conclusion, becoming increasingly annoyed with each wrong question they proposed.
Much like his predecessor, the Twelfth Doctor also used hand gestures to extenuate a point, but applied more dedication to his movements, standing firm, while speaking with conviction. (TV: Deep Breath)
This Doctor made a habit of assigning nicknames to others, giving them names based on their appearance or by an accessory they carried. (TV: Deep Breath, Into the Dalek)
Skills
Highly observant, the Doctor was able to point out the Half-Face Man as non-human from his lack of interest in a burnt dinosaur corpse, and later noticed that he and Clara were trapped in a room full of Clockwork Droids due to only them breathing. (TV: Deep Breath) He was also able to make accurate deductions from observing his surroundings, identifying the Aristotle as a medical ship within seconds of being onboard. (TV: Into the Dalek)
The twelfth incarnation retained his predecessor's ability to converse with other species, such as dinosaurs. (TV: Deep Breath)
Strong and durable, the Doctor was able to support his own weight single-handedly, wrestle the Half-Face Man into a corner, fell out of a high tree branch and shook off the fall quickly, and dove off a bridge into the Thames to swim across the river without being hampered, though the latter two events can be linked to him still being within the early hours of his regeneration. (TV: Deep Breath)
Similar to his earlier incarnations, the doctor showed several combat skills. Able to wrestle the Half-Face Man into submission, able to beat Robin Hood himself in a sword fight when armed with only a large metal spoon. He also used Venusian aikido again for the first time in five incarnations. (TV: Deep Breath, Robot of Sherwood).
Despite initially forgetting how to pilot his TARDIS due to post-regenerative trauma, (TV: The Time of the Doctor) the Doctor eventfully mastered his way around the TARDIS console, being able to save Journey Blue by piloting the TARDIS around her, one second before her ship exploded. (TV: Into the Dalek)
Like his second, tenth and eleventh incarnations, the Twelfth Doctor also displayed telepathic abilities, being able to link his mind with Rusty to show the Dalek the beauty of the universe. (TV: Into the Dalek)
Appearance
While a good many of his predecessors, especially the Eleventh, began their lives looking young, (TV: The Parting of the Ways, The End of Time) the Twelfth Doctor started out appearing very much older. He had short grey hair, a hooked nose and sharp silverly blue eyes, with big ears. (TV: The Time of the Doctor) He was of a light build. (COMIC: Chime Time) Clara was confused at the Twelfth's older appearance, saying to Vastra that "he [didn't] look renewed." Even the Doctor was confused about his aged appearance, asking himself, "Who frowned me in this face?" (TV: Deep Breath)
Most changed were his eyebrows, which went from "delicate" (TV: The Time of the Doctor) to extremely thick and furrowed. (TV: The Day of the Doctor) Startled by the change, the Doctor described them as "attack eyebrows" which could "take bottle tops off". (TV: Deep Breath)
Clothing
Immediately following regeneration, he initially wore the Eleventh Doctor's attire, and then a coat that he "bought" from a tramp.
After having a chance to return to the TARDIS, though, the Doctor chose a new outfit for himself. He donned a navy blue cardigan with a white collared shirt with no tie, matching blue trousers that now covered his ankles instead of being too short, and black brogue boots. Over the top, he sported a thigh-length, dark blue jacket with red lining, often wearing it with the top button done. On his left hand ring finger, he had a pair of gold rings, a normal gold band and a second ring with an emerald gemstone that rested atop the first band. (TV: Deep Breath)
The Doctor would wear variations of his attire, opting for a navy blue waistcoat as the equivalent of his cardigan (TV: Into the Dalek), and switching from vested garments with a white shirt for a maroon shirt at one point. (TV: Robot of Sherwood)
Behind the scenes
- Like the War and Ninth Doctors, the Twelfth Doctor debuted on television before his regeneration from his predecessor was screened.
- His first words — "Kidneys! I've got new kidneys!" — keep to the modern tradition of new Doctors commenting on their bodies. Previously, the Ninth Doctor commented on his ears, (TV: Rose) the Tenth Doctor commented on his "new teeth", (TV: The Parting of the Ways) and the Eleventh on his legs. (TV: The End of Time)
- His costume was revealed in DWM 470 and online.
- He starred in The Daft Dimension, a comic strip published in Doctor Who Magazine.
- Peter Capaldi wanted to wear his wedding ring as part of his Doctor's attire, and requested a prop to disguise it. He was given an emerald ring with a gemstone that fits over the top of his original band. The First Doctor also wore a gemstone ring, and as such the Twelfth Doctor is the first incarnation since then seen to sport one. He is also the first incarnation since the Third Doctor to wear an ordinary ring.